5.23.2010

I've been feeling rather domestic lately. I started my spurt of crafty-ness with a Mother's Day brunch for my mother and grandmother. Yummy breakfast casserole, fruit, homemade blueberry muffins and cute take-home centerpieces with kabob/scrapbook paper "Happy Mother's Day" cards. My best friend Amanda is having her second daughter this week. Eleanor Elizabeth will be joining older daughter Charlotte Caroline and has an equally cute monogram. I found a tutorial for freezerpaper stencils on Mmmboppin's blog and was amazed at how easy it was.

So, like anything I do, I went freezerpaper crazy and made a whole slew of personalized gifts. My cousin Jason and his wife Kristy (also the recipients of monkey burp cloths from an earlier post) had a son on May 20. Bashlin (named for a brand of lineman hooks/belts and a former pet) and big sister Ava got two coordinating sets all made my new favorite font...Badaboom!

Last night my friend Ginny (who got wine bottle holders in an earlier post) was picking out a bottle of wineto give as a gift and I volunteered to make a bottle holder for it. I used this grey floral fabric and it was so cute, I decided to bust out my One Yard Wonders sewing book. The professor for one of my summer classes requested that we bring our laptops for class. I've never found a laptop case that I liked well enough to buy, so I made my own. This also counts as my first attempt at machine quilting. The layers of flannel and floral fabric are quilted together with a very simple line pattern.

This will be perfect for packing up my laptop and throwing it in my school bag. Plus, it was made entirely out of things I already had at home, therefore fitting into the PayOffTheLot plan!

Nothing elaborate, but I have enjoyed making gifts for others (and for myself)!

5.21.2010

I keep seeing people who have inspiration boards online and would love to make some myself for the rooms in next house. I have at least a year to plan, so I want to be ready when it really comes time to start making decisions. I've been saving pictures that I see online to my computer forever. I will give proper credit for where I found them when I remember/have it saved. I promise I'm not trying to pass any of these off as my own or trying to profit from them in any way. No one I know even knows I have a blog, so I'm pretty sure no one reads this regularly...

This picture is saved on my computer as "Best Room Ever." It's from Meg Duerkson's blog "Whatever." I love the letters and the book jackets. It makes me want to curl up on this bed and read stories to some little kids. I will just die if my kids don't love to read. What do you think---is a love for books nature or nurture?

This next picture is on Design Mom's blog but originally came from the Real Simple website. DH has promised that I will have a room to do with as I please. It will be an office/sewing/crafting/ reading/gift-wrapping room and I may never come out of it. I love everything about this. The color, the furniture, the light. The next one is a kitchen from what I believe is the High End Design blog on blogspot, sorry if I didn't get the name exactly right. I have looked at hundreds of pictures on Google Images for "white kitchen" and keep getting glimpses of kitchens that are kinda like the magic black and white kitchen I have in my mind. This one gets most of it right. The cabinets and countertops are perfect. I'm leaning toward white subway tile for the backsplash, but want some color. This one offers color (yellow wouldn't be my choice) in the form of dishes in open shelving/cabinets. I like the idea but wouldn't want so much of my storage to be exposed. My accent color of choice is granny smith apple green. Love the table and chairs.

This is the kitchen of fashion designers Bagdley Mischka. I own 1% of the cookbooks it would take to pull this off. I'm a sucker for books, organization by color and white kitchens. What's not to love? I also like their subway tile, but not the grey grout.

Ohdeedoh has a article about reading artwork and this was my favorite. It's from the Keep Calm Shop. I kinda want this for my own now. Maybe I could put it in my office at work...

This is from Elle Decor and is from a spread about the interior of the house that was used as the outside shoot for the tv show Full House. The style is much more traditional than anything I could pull off, but I love the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

More storage. Sucker for storage. And baskets. And white. I think these are Expedit shelves by Ikea. No idea where the picture came from.

5.19.2010

My husband and I bought a lot today. I'm rather excited, as it means we are now fully committed to the idea of building a house. We love the house we live in now, but it's getting a bit snug. Two bedrooms and two bathrooms just don't offer quite as much room as the two people and one dog in my family need, especially as we consider adding on to the family.

The lot is exactly across the fairway from where we live now, a short move. The plan is to finish paying for the lot and then start construction. So, to celebrate our new plan to lively more simply and pay more quickly, a list of the things DH and I agree on to date.

1. We need more space.

2. Lots adjoining a golf course need a golf cart garage, even if said family does not own a golf cart.

3. DH needs a room/office/place far away from me from which he can listen to his (loud) music without fear of bodily harm.

4. Pink-ish/Coral-ish brick is awful and is to be avoided.

5. People get jealous when you start talking about building a house. Haters, all of them.

6. We need to aim for spending an amount comfortably below what we can afford to leave room for budget-busting.